Through Outside Eyes
by liebedance
Summary: There are always more sides to a story than just one. And sometimes, those looking in from the outside see the progression the best.
1. The Potters

I do not own Harry Potter

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James was a miracle to say the least. We'd thought that there was no chance that we'd ever have a child. We had been trying for so long to no avail and we weren't getting any younger. There would be no continuation of the Potter bloodline. Our name, like so many other old pureblood names, would die out. Not that we were concerned with keeping the lineage – we just wanted a little boy or girl to call our own.

We had completely given up on when the Healers told us to expect a son in March of 1960. We hardly believed them at first – our prayers had been answered and we would have our own child. We didn't' care that, by the point, some of our friends were thinking about their sons and daughters graduating and marrying. We didn't care that many couples in our social circle thought we were too old. All we knew was that God had given us this wonderful gift and that we would do anything for him.

James grew up too quickly for our liking. He had so much energy as a child; it was sometimes hard to keep up. But, we did our best. We tried to give him everything that he wanted – within reason. We encouraged his interests (Quidditch, mostly) and praised his good marks from his private tutors. We taught him about loyalty, showed him through demonstration how to love and treat others with respect. And we made sure he knew his ancestry – not to flaunt or elevate himself with, but so that he would know his history and appreciate who the Potters had always been. Bloodlines and purity meant nothing to us, and we tried to instill these beliefs into James.

I believe we succeeded in this. At any rate, he wasn't discriminatory when it came to choosing friends. That much we could tell from his forged friendships with Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, and, above all, Sirius Black. We were proud of him.

Yes, we received more letters from Minerva than from our son, but his marks were excellent and he wasn't causing too much harm or engaging in dangerous activities. We would reprimand him slightly when he was home and remind him to behave himself as we sent him off. But, we were too proud of him and too happy that we had him at all to be too stern.

But, nothing made us prouder – not even his making Head Boy – than when he wrote to us about Lily Evans. Of course, we'd heard the name around the manor, especially after his third year. But, when he told us he'd finally gotten her permission to take her out, we were delighted. We knew that _Evans_ was not a pureblood name. When we inquired, James informed us nonchalantly that she was a muggleborn and that he hadn't mentioned it because it didn't matter. That was our son: the pureblood who didn't care about genealogy, but just about love.

And love Lily Evans he did. Every letter from that point on sang her praises. Soon we were hearing more about Lily's activities and accomplishments than James'. When we finally were able to meet her over the Christmas holidays of James' seventh year, we knew then that she was going to be The One. We saw the adoration in his eyes and the joy in hers. Every movement and gesture they made spoke of their love. They almost reminded us of ourselves in our courting days.

When James announced that he was going to ask Lily to marry him, we were overjoyed. As we grew to know her as more than just an acquaintance, we accepted her into our family with open arms. Regardless of her blood, she was our newfound daughter: the perfect companion for our James.

As they stood at the alter, their futures ahead of them, we knew that nothing – not even death – could ever force them to part.

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Thanks for reading! I'm planning on doing drabbles from the POV of The Evans, Remus, Sirius, and Snape for sure. But, let me know if there's anybody you'd like me to try to do! This is really an exercise in capturing characters voices, so I'd love to know if you thought I managed to do so.


	2. The Evans

**POV: **Mr. and Mrs. Evans

She was our princess, our little baby girl. She was always special in our eyes, even before we realised that she was different from her sister, from us. And, so, we let her go off to that school in the North – the one we can't see – because we have always just wanted what's best for our Lily.

Her letters home convinced us that we'd made the right decision and that our daughter was happy and healthy. We marveled at the friends she was making, the classes she was attending and the pictures she sent us. There was this whole magical world our daughter was a part of. We could barely believe it.

Lily kept us up to date on all that she did, who her friends were, when they fought and made up. Sometimes we couldn't quite understand what she was talking about. Words we'd never heard before like "DADA," "Quidditch," and "boggart" littered her letters. Still, we did like what we read, for the most part.

But, then, in her 3rd year, Lily started writing home about boys. There was the drama of who liked who and who didn't ask her to Hogsmeade even though she'd really thought he would. Most of all, though, we heard about James Potter: the "too-smart-for-his-own-good-arrogant-toe-rag" bane of her existence. He'd decided, she informed us, that he was in love with her.

For three years we received letters chalk full of complaints about the boy, of what he'd done to her that week, of how he was relentless in his desire to win her heart. It worried us at first, this James Potter. We almost wrote to Dumbledore asking him to do something.

But, as Lily's stories continued, we couldn't help but laugh a bit at his antics. One had to admit: the boy had nerve. And, as we read carefully, we started to realise that our baby Lily was too bothered by him to really hate him. Her complaints changed to how he didn't apply his intelligence appropriately, how he used his good looks for wrong, and the like. But she was so adamant; how could we possible suggest our thoughts to her?

As it turned out, we didn't have to. Towards the end of her sixth year away from us, Lily admitted what we'd long known: she fancied that James Potter. She also told us how she was scared, afraid of what people would think, and worried that he had given up on her. We didn't know what to say, just that it would all work out in the end.

And it did. Within the first month of her year as Head Girl, Lily wrote home telling us that she'd accepted James' invitation to Hogsmeade. Her next letter contained, in more detail than we necessarily wanted, everything her date had entailed and her surprise at how extraordinarily well it had gone. We couldn't help but smile as we sat, reading it together; her happiness was infectious, even through the paper.

Two months later, she asked if we wanted to meet him. We replied that, of course we did. And, so, a month after that, he walked through our front door. That first time we saw him, we took him in carefully. There was no questioning that he was handsome, intelligent, and well mannered. He exuded confidence and the air of being loved and pampered his entire life. But, beyond that, there was a level of adoration without simpering and attentiveness without patronization towards Lily that surprised us, especially coming from a seventeen year old boy.

And, when, less than a year later, Lily arrived home, sporting a large diamond on her left hand, we weren't surprised. It had been obvious since that first visit that the two of them not only complemented each other, but completed each other.

We looked at our baby girl on James' arm, and she'd never looked so happy.

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Let me know what you think! I'm most eager to know whether or not you thought that I did a sufficient job of differentiating between the voice of the Evans and the Potters (the previous chapter). What worked/didn't work?


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